Highland Park, one of Scotland’s oldest whisky distilleries, now in its 227th year of production, has released its latest landmark bottling, a 56-year-old single malt.
The whisky, with a distillation date going all the way back to 1968, was part of a parcel of ten casks, which master whisky maker, Gordon Motion, identified as having both ‘exceptional complexity and vibrancy’, when he first sampled them back in 2008. After refilling them into first-fill sherry-seasoned casks to give them an additional depth of flavour, the whiskies have gone on to produce some of the oldest and rarest whiskies the distillery has released so far. The latest release is drawn from one of these particular casks and its contents have never been bottled before.
‘Our rarest and oldest whiskies are the ultimate expression of Highland Park’s craft,’ said Motion. ‘As casks are natural products, and each of them unique, I broadly know what I’ll get from each one, but every now and then I find something interesting that just stops me in my tracks and that’s exactly what I experienced with these ten. The second maturation has allowed me to push them even further and I know we’ve created something special.’
Famed for its distinctly floral, subtle smokiness, Highland Park has always exhibited a lighter, more honeyed characteristic running through its DNA, delivered in part by its specific link to the remote landscape of the Orkney Islands. The harsher weather conditions and specifically, the high winds, mean that only low-growing vegetation such as heather can thrive, which in turn has lead to a unique composition of peat, harvested from Hobbister Moor, near the distillery.
‘Even after all these years, the distinctive character of Highland Park’s heathered-peat stands out,’ Motion said. ‘There isn’t the intense woodiness that I’d typically expect to taste in a whisky of this age.’
The bottle design and outer pack pays homage to the island’s Standing Stones of Stenness which date back an incredible 5,000 years – older than Stonehenge. The presentation is a continued collaboration between revered cabinet maker John Galvin and glass designer Michael Rudak who first came together to work on the Highland Park 54-year-old release.
The whisky is bottled at its natural strength of 47.1%, with just 170 bottles on sale globally, priced at an RRP of £40,000.
Tasting notes: Soft red fruit, cloudy honey, a touch of aged Amontillado sherry, ginger snap biscuits and a subtle waft of gentle, perfumed smoke.
Related articles
Best Scotch whiskies for Burns Night: 10 to try
Suntory launches its oldest blended whisky: Hibiki 40 Year Old
The Glenlivet releases its oldest single malt whisky
The post Highland Park unveils oldest expression to date appeared first on Decanter.
Source : https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/highland-park-unveils-oldest-expression-to-date-549090/
